Good Food and Go-Go Dancing at Belle Reve, We’re In
For right now, Belle Reve is under the radar. So, you’ll feel cool bringing a friend there. Unless, that is, you can’t find it. There’s no sign announcing it on the street, and a series of vintage neon signs advertising beer make it seem like it might be a dilapidated bar from New York’s past. We nearly missed it, and only felt confident that we were going to the right place because we had a reservation.
Walking in, however, we found a space that was just the right amount of revamped. The décor is eclectic and messy. It’s clean, certainly, but filled with antiques and vintage pieces. It’s a brand spanking new restaurant, in the space that used to be Los Americanos, but it feels like it could have been in this spot for decades.
The creators of Belle Reve are veterans of the NYC scene – think Employees Only, Soho House, Lucky Strike, Naked Lunch. The food is really good, fancy-bar-fare. The names of the dishes give a sense of the gritty, nightclubby vibe: Devil May Care Lasagna, Clams with Badly Cut Pasta. The steak tartare is called Chopped Raw Steak with Fixins. Our roasted chicken and Starving Artist Steak were just what we were craving on a cold Friday night: non-pretentious, and totally delicious. But more than that, we dug the vibe. At 10 p.m., a go-go dancer began to dance between the tables, smiling and wearing red feathers. Our drinks – the Disco Billy in particular – went down real smooth, and we were happy to sit and chat in this space for as long as they’d let us.
We imagine that Belle Reve will soon be harder to get into, especially because it’s located in Tribeca, a ‘hood that badly needed a place like this. But we hope it won’t lose its neighborhood joint-y, hideaway feel that really give it its appeal in the first place.